Re: DEATH
idioms

:
: Hello!
: I am interested very much
in any idioms concerning death, especially the origination of such idioms as:
:
to dance the Paddington frisk/Tyburn jig/, to go west, to take a back number,
to ride the mare, etc.
: Thanks.

The Tyburn jig's an easy one. Tyburn was
a renowned site for public hangings in England. When hanged, the body's legs no
doubt twitched, far moreso if the hangman had got it somewhat wrong, and the criminal
got throttled to death, instead of having his neck broken - hence the blackly
comical term, dancing the Tyburn jig.

The link below will take you to a previous
discussion on death euphemisms from the archives here - you'll find plenty in
there.